BY NICOLE ROOCKE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MINERALS RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA The Western Australian Government is partnering with the gold sector and research community to ensure benefit to the state. Western Australia has a long relationship with gold, with mining of this precious metal dating back to 1885. Since then, the gold sector has … Continued

BY IAN SANDERS, DELOITTE Mining has never been easy, but miners are continuing to make strides. On the whole, many are positioning themselves to embrace intelligent mining through investments in automation and technology modernisation. Addressing climate change and investor concerns is becoming a higher priority for many. This is being achieved through decarbonisation and uncovering … Continued

CONTENT PROVIDED BY THE NICKEL INSTITUTE Nickel’s role in enabling technologies is not always common knowledge. Yet, its versatile properties present great opportunity to the producers of this metal. Australia’s nickel industry is situated in a very high opportunity environment for the metal. Addressing the recent Paydirt 2019 Australian Nickel Conference in Perth, the Nickel … Continued

BY BARRY FITZGERALD Commodity price weakness brought on by the US–China trade war and general concerns about global economic growth has been a key theme for the Australian mining industry in the past 12 months. But not for the gold sector. The gold sector has just posted a record year of production on the back … Continued

BY ANTHONY FENSOM Australia’s lithium miners are eyeing a brighter outlook amid projections of a looming supply deficit and continued escalation of demand from the electric vehicle revolution. And with government support for downstream processing and manufacturing, the industry appears set for further growth despite recent volatility. Miners’ quiet confidence comes after recent production cuts … Continued

BY NICKI IVORY, FINANCIAL ADVISORY LEADER, DELOITTE WA Mining and brand identity are increasingly part of the same conversation – a conversation that intersects in an age of disruption, shareholder activism and a breakdown in corporate trust. The mining industry needs to tangibly demonstrate value to a diverse set of stakeholders: employees, communities, government, shareholders, … Continued

BY SHERIF ANDRAWES, HEAD OF GLOBAL NATURAL RESOURCES, BDO; AND CHRIS DAVIS, MINING INDUSTRY CONSULTANT There are major changes predicted to shake-up Australia’s mining sector by 2023, including diesel machinery not being used in new underground mines, and existing underground mines in the process of phasing them out. BDO predicts that by 2023, Australian miners … Continued

BY GAVIN WENDT, MINELIFE PTY LTD ‘If you don’t trust gold, do you trust the logic of taking a beautiful pine tree, worth about $4000–5000, cutting it up, turning it into pulp and then paper, putting some ink on it and then calling it $1 billion?’ – Kenneth J. Gerbino. We’re reviewing interesting recent developments … Continued

BY PROFESSOR ROBIN BURGESS-LIMERICK, SUSTAINABLE MINERALS INSTITUTE, THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND In addition to improving productivity, increased automation has considerable potential to reduce safety and health risks by removing people from hazardous situations. Automation, however, does not remove people from the system – it just changes the tasks that they undertake. For the system to … Continued